This came up in a game this weekend. I'm pretty sure my answer was correct, but it's not a bad idea to get official documentation.

When Armor Assault, Bombard, etc., says you may order one unit of your choice if you don't possess the card's designated type of unit, Marines are allowed to order two, right? That seems to be implied by the Pacific rule book's statement, "All Tactic cards that normally activate 4 units activate 5 units instead, and those that activate 1 unit activate 2 instead."

Thanks, Sam, for posting your question on the FAQ thread...now I'll know where to find it.

I'll find the answer to this and include it in a future version of the FAQ.

Thank you, Stevens. Depending on the timing, the Balka explanation and other clarification about the Combat Deck might have to wait until a later update. I'll be close to an update in a little while here but I'll have to wait for the card images before I can include the Balka Terrain or Combat Cards.

Thanks for posting the question on this thread! Now I can find it easily when it's time to include it in the FAQ.

I have a question about terrain card #52 which says that the -2 die reduction "only applies to units attacking from below or another hill range" Yet on page 11 of the FAQ, it says that if a Japanese infantry is on a cave hex and is targeted, even from the same range, the reduction is 2. While this agrees with the Pacific Theater book page 4 which says "when battling an enemy on a cave hex (Japanese infantry), infantry and armor reduce the number of dice by 2, artillery battle dice are not reduced. A Japanese infantry unit on a cave hex must ignore all flags rolled against it." I think that this is the way to go, and I would have reduced artillery dice as well. How many bombs and artillery shells were dropped on Iwo without much result? (I could answer that when I get home, if you wanted!)

Are you asking why they bothered to put the -1 on the card, since the Japanese always get the -2 battle die reduction?

If so, it's because the US Marines (or the Allied player) does not enjoy the -2...they only receive the -1 reduction and they only get that protection if the Japanese are attacking them from a lower terrain.

Yes I know that but, the card says "only applies to units battling Japanese from below or another range." This is what it says at the bottom of the card. Does this mean that if you battle a Japanese unit in a cave hex from the same hill range that they don't get the -2, or is the FAQ correct on page 11.

Yes I know that but, the card says "only applies to units battling Japanese from below or another range." This is what it says at the bottom of the card. Does this mean that if you battle a Japanese unit in a cave hex from the same hill range that they don't get the -2, or is the FAQ correct on page 11.

The FAQ is correct.

The card is a bit confusing and probably tried to summarize too much info.

Only the Japanese can use hill caves (or mountain caves for that matter) and when fired on always benefit from the -2 die roll reduction (but do not forget about Combat Eng of Flame Tank units in Close Combat -- ).

Allied units, when occupying a hex with a cave only benefit from the underlying terrain (mountain or hill) as per the normal rules for that terrain type.

The card is a bit confusing and probably tried to summarize too much info.

Only the Japanese can use hill caves (or mountain caves for that matter) and when fired on always benefit from the -2 die roll reduction (but do not forget about Combat Eng of Flame Tank units in Close Combat -- ).

Allied units, when occupying a hex with a cave only benefit from the underlying terrain (mountain or hill) as per the normal rules for that terrain type.

It runs in my mind that we had a big discussion on this issue and the final result was the addition into my FAQ document, but I haven't looked around to find it. 50th, you might try a search and see if you can find anything. But I believe that Tank Commander is on the right track...the FAQ is correct. I'll check to be sure, though.

I thought I remembered that too, although I didn't remember the outcome. Well according to coltsfan, (who quotes Richard) you are correct!

Thanks for finding that. I just got a message from Richard about this question and this is what he said,

"The summary cards, Caves on Hills and Caves on Mountains, statement at the bottom of the card has caused some confusion.

The correct rules are:
Armor and Infantry will battle at -2 when attacking a Japanese infantry unit on a Cave hex.
Armor and Infantry will battle at -1 when attacking a non Japanese infantry unit on a Cave hex from below.

Richard Borg"

I'll include this information in the FAQ for the next update. The information is already there on page 11 but it's not as clear or concise. I'm glad we could get your question answered.

...and I would have reduced artillery dice as well. How many bombs and artillery shells were dropped on Iwo without much result?

I agree about the artillery. There should be a reduction. But, I generally feel that artillery rules could possibly be improved in other situations as well. For instance, one could also argue there should be a reduction for units behind a sandbag (dug-in units) or even in built-up areas (e.g., towns). Also, artillery range/die roll kind of strange at 3-3-2-2-1-1 (but is necessitated by lack of terrain protection in rules).

2. If a grenade is rolled against a plane which is next to just one unit, which is camouflaged (assuming it didn't count toward Air Check), and the plane is flying above terrain, does the opponent get a medal?

3. If a Camouflaged unit is attacked, but does not battle itself, does it keep its camouflage? What if it is forced to retreat?

4. What if a camouflaged unit Ambushes an enemy unit that attacks it (since Ambush is not a battle)?

1. I would say that Camouflaged units do count against air check. Why wouldn't they? They don't stop existing just because the enemy can't see them. They really are there!

2. I would say that the plane would be lost. (same reason).

3. Since camouflage units can be close assaulted they could possibly have a flag thrown against them, meaning they would need to move if terrain modifiers did not prevent it. So since they moved they would lose their camouflage. Just like the card says.

4. In gameplay, an ambush is a battle. It is a preemptive battle on the opponent's turn. So if a camouflaged unit ambushes it would be battling and thus lose its camouflage. (They have given away their position by bringing fire on the attacking unit.)
That's how I see it!

Dear Jesse,
Here are the most recent comments by Richard on the COMBAT CARDS:

Quote:

Re:Sword of Stalingrad scenario - first playthrough &#8211; 7DEC09

Quote from the original rules as submitted on how Command cards are to be used.

COMBAT CARDS
Before the start of an Overlord battle, shuffle the Combat cards thoroughly and deal one card to each Field Commander.
(In a Standard size scenario, with only one player on each side, deal each player two Combat cards. Play is as normal with each player using Combat cards as he chooses.)

- A Combat card is drawn by the Field Commander at the end of a turn after the Field Commander plays a Recon-Order 1 Unit; Command card.
- There is no limit to the number of Combat cards a Field General may hold or the number of Combat cards that may be played during his own or an opponent's turn.
- Combat cards that increase the number of Battle dice rolled are accumulative.

A Combat card that a Field Commander plays may modify game play in a variety of ways.
- Ambuscade, Not a Step Back, Pull Back and Out of Ammo cards are played during the opponents turn in reaction to an opposing Field General's action.
- Air Bombardment, Armor Factory and Reinforcements cards are played before ordering any units.
- Armor Forward, Spotter, Fortify, Heat of Battle, House to House, Infiltrators, Rattenkrieg, Reposition, Return to Duty, and Sniper cards are played during the Field General's turn and will modify the action of one or more of the Field General's ordered units.

After a Combat card is played the card is discarded.

A Combat card when it refers to buildings, means all town, village, landmark structures including city ruins and train station hexes.

Some Combat cards have a very specific action and may not always be a usable option for a Field General. In such a case the -OR- action Street Fight as noted on the card may be chosen as the action of the Combat card.

Street Fight Action
One ordered unit in or adjacent to a building hex may Close Assault with 1 additional die.

When a Finest Hour Command card is played, the Combat card discards and draw pile are shuffle together to form a new draw pile. If the Combat card deck is depleted, shuffle the Combat card discards to form a new draw pile.

Richard Borg

Re:Combat Card Questions &#8211; 8DEC09

Sam &#8211; &#8220;I just played my first game with Combat rules. So far, I like it, and I can see all why all that the terrain justifies adding some extra punch to the cards.

A couple of questions came up, and since I was playing solitaire, my opponent didn't know the new rules any better than I did:

* Fortify: "Place a spare sandbag in 1 ordered unit's hex after the unit has moved and battled." Is this saying that armor and artillery can be sandbagged now?&#8221;

(RB) Yes, any unit may fortify its position with this Combat card.

Sam &#8211; &#8220;* Sniper: Unlike some other cards, this one doesn't specify that the Sniper be made from a surplus unit. Does this mean the sniper can be taken from casualty figures?&#8221;

(RB) There currently are four Combat cards that allow figures to be brought into or back into the battle.

&#8226; Sniper - A figure not deployed at start of the battle or lost fighting, may be used for the Sniper.

&#8226; Armor Factory - Figures not deployed at start of the battle or lost fighting, may be used for the Armor unit. If there are not enough figures to make a full strength unit the unit may not be placed.

&#8226; Reinforcements - Figures not deployed at start of the battle or lost fighting may be used to muster a full strength reinforcement unit. If there are not enough figures to make a full strength unit, no reinforcements.

&#8226; Return to Duty - If there are not enough lost Russian infantry figures, the extra return to duty rolls, are ignored.

Sam &#8211; &#8220;* Street fighting: "One ordered unit in, or next to, a building hex may Close Assault with 1 additional die." May the unit move before Close Assaulting?&#8221;

RB) As the Combat card rules state - One ordered unit in or next to, a building hex may Close Assault with 1 additional die. An order unit may move prior to battling.

Also note, lost figures that are on your opponent's Medal Track may not be used as a Sniper, Armor Factory figure, Reinforcement figure or Return to Duty figure.

Now I have got to ask(after the above post reminded me about them). Does anyone know what text combinations cause those annoying "&#8211" lines. Those pop up a lot after I have written an AAR for my service record battles.

Now I have got to ask(after the above post reminded me about them). Does anyone know what text combinations cause those annoying "&#8211" lines. Those pop up a lot after I have written an AAR for my service record battles.

I've seen those lines appear when I Cut and Paste text into the threads. I've assumed it's from that.

Those are HTML entity codes for common things like punctuation that are not valid in HTML (or are keywords in HTML, such as "<" and ">"). The ones you are seeing appear to be extended character codes for fancy quotes and dashes and the like (8220 is left double-quote mark and 8211 is dash.) To stop seeing these, stop using the extended characters and just use the ASCII character set.

Hi all. I bought Memoir '44 for myself and my brother to play at home over the holidays (we traditionally play computer games during the holidays but my computer is out of action). We've had a few hours of playtime so far and it's money very well spent. I'll be introducing this game to a few of my friends when I get back to my neck of the woods.

We've had some questions over the past few hours which that FAQ has helped clear up (LoS issues, some cards, etc.). I'd like to thank all of the people involved with putting it together - It's a tremendous asset to new players.

I have one contribution to make after a quick read through of the PDF. I think there may be a grammar error on pg.30:

Quote:

Q. Is the Air Power card played exactly like the Air Sortie card if I am using Air Rules?

A. No. The Air Power card is an Air Sortie equivalent, so when you draw the Air Power card, is it placed in
your hand instead of next to your card holder.

I think the answer should read:

Quote:

A. No. The Air Power card is an Air Sortie equivalent, so when you draw the Air Power card, it is placed in
your hand instead of next to your card holder.

Welcome to the Forum and to Memoir '44, Famous Unknown! I'm glad you like the game so far and I'm glad my FAQ has been useful.

You are exactly right!! Thank you for catching that grammar error and for pointing it out to me. I've made the necessary correction in the document and it will be fixed when I release the next version. Thank you for already contributing to the quality of Memoir '44!

I hope you take the chance to create your own User Page and contribute more ideas to this game. Merry Christmas and thanks again!

1) When scenario special rules states that some air sortie card is shuffled in the deck, is it shuffled before players take their starting cards or after?

You shuffle the Sorties into the deck before drawing your opening cards.

Quote:

2) Can my airplane strafe an opponent's airborne airplane? (I think that thematically it can't but I can't find it stated clearly in the rules).

Airplanes cannot directly attack each other in the air. An Air Check by adjacent enemy units is the only way a plane in the air can be targeted. (But if there's a plane on the ground, on an airfield, you can strafe it.)

1) When scenario special rules states that some air sortie card is shuffled in the deck, is it shuffled before players take their starting cards or after?

You shuffle the Sorties into the deck before drawing your opening cards.

Quote:

2) Can my airplane strafe an opponent's airborne airplane? (I think that thematically it can't but I can't find it stated clearly in the rules).

Airplanes cannot directly attack each other in the air. An Air Check by adjacent enemy units is the only way a plane in the air can be targeted. (But if there's a plane on the ground, on an airfield, you can strafe it.)

Thank you for the quick answers. Air pack is a great expansion. I like how the old maps was revised (for example Pegasus Bridge which we played today was much more fun than the base game version) and the planes are awsome!

When is the smoke screen removed? At the beginning of the second turn, or the end? It can really make a difference!

Actually I just saw this on the new action card. It says that after the first turn, you flip them over, and after your second turn you remove them. So this means they are only there for one of the opponents turns. (should be two at least). Sorry I didn't see this first, I'm in the middle of a campaign. (Iwo Jima, and I can see where I need to make changes- watch for this soon.)

According to page 11 of the Campaign Book #1 - "You can play another turn before removing the Smoke Screen Markers from the board."
So they would be taken off at the end of your second turn. The only scenario listed for these that I have played is on page 41 Opportunity at Falaise

On the Sword of Stalingrad map, the printed 37-Railroad Bridge card says, "Railroad bridges may only be entered or exited from adjacent track hexes." But the corresponding physical card in the Terrain deck and the image in the Game Cards Database both lack that statement. How do we resolve this apparent contradiction?

I'm told that a similar contradiction arises with regular Bridges on the Cadets of Saumur battle map.

RBorg wrote on Sat, 09 January 2010 23:25

Not sure how or why the Railroad Bridges terrain card #37 as printed on the Sword of Stalingrad map was amended? The first statement on the card; Railroad bridges may only be entered or exited from adjacent track hexes, really does not apply to the Sword of Stalingrad scenario, nor is it a special rule for this scenario.

The design of the scenario allows units to move from any adjacent hex onto a Railroad bridge, even from a Balka, which is stated on the Balka Terrain card #65; Unit may move out of a Balka directly onto a Bridge and vice versa, but must stop when doing so.